The Theory Of Happiness
by voiiddxx
Summary: After having her parents' divorce being bombed on her, Cassie and Lily are accidentally sent back to the past where their parents are Hogwarts students themselves? What will Cassie do when she has a chance to change the future? To save the people who are dead in her time? To save her sister and further stop her parents' divorce from ever happening?
1. The Divorce

_01\. The Divorce  
_

 _"Know that love is truly timeless."_  
 _― Mary M. Ricksen_

* * *

There were certain things that Cassiopeia Nymphandora Malfoy hated doing. For example, arguing with her parents. Like she was doing right now. "Cassiopeia, you should understand that your father and I came to this decision after thinking this through for very long time. We are getting divorced, but you have to understand that it doesn't mean we will stop being parents for three of you." said Hermione Granger-Malfoy looking at her the way she always did when she tried to get her understand exactly why she was doing this.

The thing was, she didn't.

"Besides the obvious fact that I won't get to see one of you for three weeks." said Cassiopeia flatly, dressed in the summer dress she bought few days ago from the muggle dressing shop. She thought that she would play dress up in her bedroom after shopping for hours, but instead she had her parents' divorce bombed on her. The worst way to spend one's last day at her home before going back to Hogwarts, Cassiopeia thought sadly as she continued looking in disbelief at her parents.

"Come on, Cassie. It's been coming long now. You just refused to see it." said Scorpius, putting his hand on her should with sad smile on his face. He too, did not take the news very well. Before she had arrived, she found him shouting at their parents. His face was red as the Weasley red then, swaying his hands angrily at one side and another. He calmed down quickly after. Only for Cassiopeia to lose her temper.

"Come off it, Scorp! You were as angry as I was when I came in!"

"Well, how did you think I would react? I was ready to get ready for my date with Lily when they dropped the news of their divorce on me! What was I supposed to say? Alright, Father and Mother. I understand. I don't give a fuck about your divorce whatsoever. I wouldn't even mind if I don't get to see one of you for three fucking weeks? I wouldn't even mind if Father begins to see that dumb bitch that tries to seduce him at his office or if Mother begins to see that McLaggen dude. But, you know what, I do give a fuck about all this! We're family. You can't just bomb your divorce on us."

"Shut your mouths, both of you!" shouted Alexander beside them, clearly very annoyed by both of them. "I understand why are angry with our parents, but let them explain will you? We won't get anywhere with this yelling competition."

Cassiopeia sighed in the defeat, because however stubborn she could be sometimes when she was angry, she knew that Alec had a point. Rather valid point at that. She had no reason to disobey. So, as Alec had ordered a minute before, she shut her mouth.

She looked at Scorpius and realized that he too, had shut up.

Her father who was being unusually quiet up till now sighed heavily and sat on the coach nearby. "We didn't want you three to get through the heartbreak a divorce of parents could bring to the child, you know. But, we just couldn't. Couldn't stand to look at each other anymore without remembering what we have lost. What was lost in that attack." said her father, his voice awfully low and he seemed very tired, more tired than all the times she has seen him in his study working. The decision to divorce was hard one for both of the, she realized suddenly. They both looked very much tired. She could see it now that the anger was gone. "That's why decided that the best we could do is to stay away from one another. To get divorced."

"Besides, even if we wanted to get back what we used to be, we couldn't. Too much damage has been done. We said awful things. Very awful things to each other, my sweet honeys. We can't just keep living like this. So, I want you to understand that this divorce is for the best and that it was mutually decided."

"I understand." she said, holding back the tears that were about to come. She did not want to cry. She did not want to be seen as the ever weak little girl that used to cry every time a boy was nasty to her or that little girl who cried every time she got in the second place during the exams. She did not want to be seen as that fragile girl. She wanted her parents to see that she has grown up no matter how much she wanted to cry until her eyes went red. "If you excuse me, I'll head back to my room. I need my beauty sleep for tomorrow."

Looking at her parents one final time, she stood up and headed towards her room. She shut the door behind her and fell on the wooden floor hard. It hurt, but it did not hurt as much as her heart did. Her chest tightened and she finally allowed the tears to come.

Her parents were getting divorced. There was no stopping that now. She just wished, wished that everything was different.

* * *

Alexander Malfoy was still quiet even after Scorpius excused himself to have a call with his girlfriend to cancel the date. He understood why. How could any of them do anything as bright and fun as having a date when the situation was like this? He couldn't even imagine what a disastrous date that would be. If he was out with Dominique in this situation, she would probably dump him right there. No other explanation needed. Thank Merlin that he did not in fact have a date. She would have dumped him too for canceling the date that she had been thoroughly prepared for.

Dominique and him; their relationship was not like that of his younger brother and Lily Potter. The thing was, Dominique was in love with her sister's boyfriend whom she actually slept with and he was in love with an older woman who was married unhappily to Roger Davies. His parents would be in shock if they found out. he couldn't possibly do that to them, could he?

"Alexander, say something." has mother said, her eyes pleading as she sat next to his father.

He sighed in defeat. When he was younger, he used to look at his father and think that the way his father treated his mother was the right way to treat a woman. His father always treated his mother with an equal respect and trust. But, after that accident where little Lyra had died, everything he thought he knew about his father disappeared. Just as how everything he thought he knew about his mother disappeared. They cursed. His mother threw things at his father. And after the fight, they slept just like nothing happened.

He could tell it was coming miles away. His siblings would have seen it too if they weren't in the denial all this time. If they weren't so blinded by their perfect image of their family. Of what they used to be. Of what they would never be now.

"What do you want me to say? That I understand?" he asked, looking at his parents curiously as to what they wanted from him. His life was miserable enough as it was before the little signs of his parents' crumbling relationship started showing up. "Because, honestly speaking I do not understand. None of us understand. Losing Lyra was hard. She was only five years old and she was the family. We all mourned. We probably would never move on. But, we lived our lives. It seems like you two couldn't." he said. "Look, I know that on top of the wounds that you got in fighting the war, losing a child was hard. Harder than I could ever imagine, but couldn't you have thought of us? About how we would feel instead of focusing on how you guys feel?"

"I understand why you feel that way. We were being selfish." his father said as he supported his crying mother who kept mumbling Lyra's name and how sorry she was that she could not save her. That was the thing. After that accident, it left his mother emotionally disturbed. It ached him to see her like this. It made him regret that he mentioned Lyra's name in the first place. He knew how his mother got when someone mentioned her.

He sighed. "I am in love with Cho Chang-Davies. Goodnight, I am going to the bed."

Before his parents could utter any words as they were in the shock, he stood up and headed towards Cassiopeia's room. Knocking on the door, he waited for his sister to open the door. He could have simply walked in, but that was just impolite. One could never enter lady's room without permission even if that lady was his sister. "Come in." said a faint voice of his sister, her voice almost inaudible.

He entered the room and realized that unsurprisingly his sister was crying on her bed. Her eyes were red, the makeup she applied ruined and her long curly blond hair a mess. His sister never liked her hair being a mess. And about the makeup? That was a disaster. His sister didn't look disastrous. It would explain how much of a toll the news of his parents' divorce took on her.

Sitting beside her on the bed, he hugged her tightly. "It's alright. We will get through this, Cassie. We will." he said reassuring words that even he wasn't sure he believed. After all, his family always consisted of his parents and his siblings. If one half of his parents lived someplace else, he did not know how he would live. He could live, he supposed. But, after that huge news he dropped on his parents just few minutes ago, he wasn't sure. What he knew was that his father would have very through talk with him after all this.

"I just want us to be together again as family. Is that too hard to ask from them?" she asked, tears still streaming down her face.

"I know."

Alec let go of his sister when he felt another weight on the bed. He turned to his left and realized that it was only Scorpius. He hadn't been crying as according to Scorpius, that's the thing only sisters do when they're sad. Men, he had said, yell and shout which would explain the amount of the noise he heard from Scorpius' room. "You know, why did leave me out from this siblings' bonding over our parents' divorce?" Scorpius asked, looking at him in wonder.

Typical Scorpius. Did not like it when people leave him out of the things.

"Come here." Alec said as they three hugged and cried(in Cassie's case) and fell asleep on that king sized bed. Tomorrow morning he would think how it was the first time he slept with his siblings since he entered Hogwarts. He thought that he did not actually mind it if they did it often.


	2. Back In The time

_02\. Back In The Time_

 _"There is no such thing as a "broken family." Family is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce papers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart. The only time family becomes null is when those ties in the heart are cut. If you cut those ties, those people are not your family. If you make those ties, those people are your family. And if you hate those ties, those people will still be your family because whatever you hate will always be with you."_  
 _― C. JoyBell C._

* * *

Cassiopeia Malfoy rode the train without even bidding goodbye to her parents that day. She was still sad, angry and most of all, disappointed in her parents. She thought that they would at least consider staying married even if it was simply for their sake alone. She would have appreciated that, but apparently their parents could not do that. They decided to divorce and make them miserable.

She sighed deeply as she looked through the window as the train moved. She could have understood if they did not love each other anymore, but this? This she could not understand. Though, she thought that had to do with how old they were. Children would never understand the pain parents are going through. And just as the same, parents could never understand the pain children are going through. Just like how she would never come to understand why they are divorcing, they would never come to understand why her brother is in love with married woman however unhappy that marriage was.

"Okay, stop pitying yourself and explain to me what the hell is happening at your home? Scorpius just cancelled on me yesterday night! I was all dressed up, ready for the date when he just cancelled on me! And now my best friend is drowning herself in the pity. I can't stand to watch this." Lily Potter said, looking at her the way she always did when she's ready to spill out some secret of some sorts from her. Not that it was any secret. She was sure that the whole wizarding world would know about her parents' divorce the day it becomes official. "So, tell me, Cassie. What happened? It have to be something serious. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be acting like this."

Cassie sighed deeply, looking at her best friend. "My parents are divorcing."

"Oh mother fucking Jesus! Are you alright? How do you feel? Did you yell at them? How much did you cry? Now that I look closer, your eyes are red! Oh, I am so sorry, Cassie. If I had known, I would have immediately hugged you the minute we met at the train station!" Lily cried out, hugging her tightly as she mumbled reassuring words that made her smile despite the situation. "If my parents divorced, I wouldn't know what to do. James and I would probably have a fit. You know, the famous Weasley temper. And Albus? He'll probably smile sadly at our parents and go to his room and not come out until we force him out. Oh mother fucking Jesus, I can't even imagine how you feel right now."

Despite herself, Cassie laughed out loud. She looked at her friend, trying hard to contain her laughter but failing so. Lily let go of her slowly and as she looked at her, Cassie noticed that there was happy smile on her face. "Mother Fucking Jesus? When did become Christian? Mother Fucking Jesus, honestly."

"Oh, shut up. It's just a curse I learned watching television last night. Oh Merlin, that show was so funny." Lily said, wiping her tears away as she laughed along with Cassie.

"You should stop quoting curses from muggle TV Shows, Lily. What would your father think? He would be horrified!"

"I am sure my father would be fine. He learned the shops that sell those sweets he loves so much from television, after all." Lily said. "Oops! I wasn't supposed to say that! Don't tell Mom, okay? She would kill him if she found out that he ate those sweets on top of the sweets he eats daily."

They laughed together at that.

Suddenly, the compartment door split open. "What's with you two? All laughing? What, did I miss something?" came the voice of Dahlia Weasley. Turning her head towards the owner of the voice, Cassie realized that Dahlia stood tall with her black hair cut shorter than before. Her Slytherin friend looked at her strangely as if she thought that they grew two heads. "What? I was gone to meet my friends in Slytherin for a bit and then you have some running joke together that I don't know?"

"Mother Fucking Jesus, that's what." Lily replied with a smile.

* * *

The Potions Class was shared with Slytherins and it was taught by Professor Cadmus Grey; a man in his early twenties with short dark hair and dark eyes. He wore as usual, dark robes today. He only wore dark robes. In fact, she didn't think she ever saw him in the robe of different color in all four years of being taught by him which wasn't really weird since Professor Grey was weird.

"Today, we'll be doing Time Traveling Potion. It has the ability to see the glimpse of your future for five minutes and undoubtedly, you will be working with partner. Now, choose your partner and start preparing the potion."

Of course, by default Lily and Cassie chose each other. Sitting at one of the front seats', they started making the potion. The potion was pretty simple, but if one wrong ingredient went there, it would end up as permanent time traveling potion with no way to return. They could end up anywhere in the future. She shivered at the very thought.

They were making the potion very carefully; cutting what was supposed to be cut with the right amount and putting the right ingredients, following the introduction. She was following it very thoroughly when there was a loud sound heard. Crying out in the surprise, Lily put extra fairy wings inside the potion. Quickly, there was a steam producing from the potion. Before she knew, she was on the floor, her eyes coming to close.

Before long, everything was blank.


	3. Different Time, Same Place

_02\. Different Time, Same Place_

 _"Don't time travel into the past, roaming through the nuances as if they can change. Don't bookmark pages you've already read."_

 _James Altucher_

* * *

The first thing that Cassie saw when she opened her eyes was the hospital white ceiling of hospital wing. Getting in the sitting position, Cassie tried to remember exactly what happened that made her lose consciousness. They had been working on potion per usual due to Professor Grey's assistance. They each tried their hardest not to put in an extra detail, since the consequences would have been disastrous. Though she had no idea what would happen.

But, she supposed that everything was fine. Damn Frank. Always clumsy, always loving. She cursed his clumsiness. Though, she would never be able to stay mad at Frank for long. He was after all, her favorite Hufflepuff student of their year. She supposed that she would have liked it if Teddy was still student, but last she heard he was busy getting ready for his wedding and busy getting an Auror training.

No one was surprised when Teddy decided to become an Auror like his parents. He did have that fighting blood in him, people said. If Teddy didn't become an Auror, what else he would become? Bloody Unspeakable or Quitditch Player, people said. So, Auror did he become. Partially anyway.

Turning to her side, Cassie looked at Lily's sleeping form. She was so peaceful when she slept unlike when she was awake. But, she thought that she preferred Lily just as she was. After all, it was because Lily was never afraid to be herself that her brother had fallen in love with her. She was truly happy for her friend when she found oyt that they started dating. Lily did after all, had a crush on her brother since she was ten. It was dream come true for Lily, she was sure.

She remembered Lily of that night when Scorpius asked her to go out with him. She was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling all night. It made her want to smile with her together. So, that she did. They had spent the night at Potter's house all night smiling and watching romantic movies.

"Oh, thank god. You are awake." said the familiar voice of Hermione Granger, dressed in the old Hogwarts uniform that mostly consisted of simple dark robe and underneath it, plain white buttoned shirt with red tie and a skirt longer than she would have liked. Not that she was the one who was wearing it. She liked her school uniform well enough. It was after all, simple jacket, red jumper with red tie and short skirt. Yes, she thought, she preferred that to the one her mother was wearing.

Now that she looked closer, why was her mother wearing uniform? They were at Hogwarts, that much was sure, but why was she here? All those questions filled her head when suddenly one thought came to the head. "Ms. Granger, can you tell me what year it is?" she asked, hoping that what she thought might be the truth not be the truth after all. As for her mother, she might have just been cosplaying for party or something.

"What year? It's the fall of 1994. What's wrong? You look very pale. Do you need me to call Madam Pompfrey?" asked Hermione, looking very worried at her well being. She sighed. That's just what kind of person her mother was before that Death Eater attack that broke her without any repair. She always saw the good in the people, even in the worst of the men. That's what her father told her anyway.

Gulping and blinking her eyes in the shock, Cassie looked at Hermione Granger. She smiled nervously at her, "I think we traveled time, Ms. Granger. We are from the year 2022. Oh Salazar and Godric, I am going to murder Frank when I return!"

"But, you cannot do that! Professor Longbottom would be left without an heir then. You don't want to do that to our sweet Herbology Professor, do you?" said Lily, seemingly awake now as she stared confused at Cassie. She probably had no idea what was going on. She should explain it to her later.

"If you really had time traveled as you said, then you go and meet Professor Dumbledore. He's the Headmaster here. You should meet him." said Hermione.

"Professor Dumbledore? Albus Dumbledore?"

* * *

She had heard different stories about what kind of person Hogwarts' Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was. People praised how noble and brave he was. People cursed him for his many secrets that he took with when he died. And people also hated him for using them as a pawn in the war. She didn't know what kind of person he really was, but one thing was sure. He was complicated.

Though, she heard stories, she never in her wildest dreams would have thought that she would actually meet him. Standing before him in his office, she could see how old he was and how his eyes were so gentle like Santa Claus' eyes yet at the same time how calculating they were. If she was student in those times, she would never have trusted him fully. He would probably use her for the war than help her with kindness of the heart. He was just that kind of person, she realized. But, she might have been wrong.

"I heard from Miss Granger. Traveled back in the time from 2022? How fascinating. Pray tell me miss, how exactly did that happen?" asked Professor Dumbledore as he smiled at them the way her grandfather John often did; kind and happy and just simply grandfather. Though, picturing Professor Dumbledore as anyone's grandfather was just plain weird. He didn't even have a wife, she heard. Though, she wondered why.

"We were having Potions class. It was The Time Traveling Potion we were brewing. One extra dose would have resulted with catastrophic consequences. So, we were doing it very carefully to not add extra detail." explained Lily, looking at the old Professor as if he was some kind of a star.

She rolled her eyes at that. She would never in million years understand Lily's fascination with Albus Dumbledore.

"And Frank Longbottom happened. He's clumsy. He always has been, but that never bothered us before. But, that day he was more clumsy than before. He was having very bad day."

"His potion, well it fired and in surprise, I added extra fairy wing. I guess that's how we ended up here." Lily finished, her long light red hair falling behind her eyes in beautiful manner as she stared nervously at the old Professor.

"Very well, Miss?"

"Lily Luna Potter, sir." replied Lily.

"Cassiopeia Nymphandora Malfoy, sir."

Professor Dumbledore smiled at that as if he had known all along who they were which was really impossible. One does not known who person is unless they had met them before and she very much doubted that they did. After all, he was dead in her time.

"Gryffindor, I assume? Both of you?"

They nodded their heads.

"You'll be resorted, I am afraid." said Professor Dumbledore.

"Good, I always wondered what it's like to be in Slytherin." said Cassie with glimmer in her eyes as she thought about one of her favorite houses which wasn't really much since there was only four houses at Hogwarts.

"What? No, be in Gryffindor with me! There's no way I am being sorted into Slytherin! My boyfriend may be Slytherin, but I am not! What will I do without you here?"

"You'll look out for yourself. Besides, I heard that Professor McGonagall was the head of the house. She'll help you out, I am sure."

"Alright. I'll look out for myself. But, you have to look out for yourself too."

"Promise."


End file.
